Roux (pronounced roo) is flour cooked in fat. Very basic, very easy, and very easy to impress your friends with. Flour is a thickening agent, as in it makes liquid thicker, like gravy. It is used in most delicious things, so you should know how to make one. We will talk about it's uses in a few minutes.
There are two reasons we cook flour. First, uncooked flour tastes like, well, uncooked flour. Not good. The second reason is that if you dump flour into liquid, it turns into blobs of glue. Not good.
The reason we use fat is because fat is delicious. Enough said.
Roux is a bit tricky to get right at first, but you can always wash the pan and start over. The trick is to go SLOW. It only takes 5 minutes, so take your time.
The basic process goes like this. Heat a pan over medium heat, add the fat until it is hot, add the flour, and stir. Don't stop stirring for more than a few seconds or it will start to burn. You want the mixture to be bubbling without going crazy and burning.
You will be able to tell when it is done by the color. For most things, you want it to be a tan color. The longer you cook, the darker it gets, but the color of khaki pants is about right for us.
What you do next depends on what you are making, but you will be amazed how often this is used in cooking basic delicious things. If we were to add some beef broth, we would end up with a brown gravy for roast beef, or the base for beef stroganoff or sweedish meatballs. Add milk and sausage and you have biscuits and gravy. Milk and cheese and you have mac and cheese. Chicken or turkey stock and you have chicken or turkey gravy. Add more stock and you have a stew. A little more stock, you have soup. Imagine that, 5 minutes of work and you have a dozen dinners.
Anyhow, back to the process. Once your roux is a nice tan color, we add our liquid. If you are lazy or ham fisted, this is where you will wreck it. If you go slow, it will work out every time. Let's say we have two cups of liquid to add. If we just dumped it all in at once, the roux would turn to globs of glue and we would ruin everything. The trick is to add the liquid slowly, stirring with a whisk the entire time. Don't stop stirring!
Before we go on, I want to warn you. This next step happens fast. You can't take time to measure things out. Don't worry though, it doesn't require any expertise. Hannah is 11 years old now, has made a roux a thousand times, and has never screwed up once. All we are going to do is add a splash of liquid every few seconds and never, ever, ever stop stirring.
At first, add a splash of liquid, maybe a few tablespoons. It will quickly turn to paste while you stir. Once the liquid is soaked up, add another splash. Stir until the liquid and the roux blend thoroughly. As you continue to add liquid and stir, it will turn into a smooth paste. Don't add liquid until the paste is smooth. Also, don't add more liquid until the roux is bubbling again. You don't want the pan to cool down. When it becomes a paste, you can start to add more liquid each time. Stir until you can't tell the difference between the roux and the liquid. When it looks more like liquid than roux, dump the rest of the liquid in and stir for a few seconds.
Notes: if your roux seems lumpy, keep stirring until smooth before you add more liquid. Also, the first few times you make a roux, it might help to heat up your liquid first, as this will makes lumps less likely.
There are two reasons we cook flour. First, uncooked flour tastes like, well, uncooked flour. Not good. The second reason is that if you dump flour into liquid, it turns into blobs of glue. Not good.
The reason we use fat is because fat is delicious. Enough said.
Roux is a bit tricky to get right at first, but you can always wash the pan and start over. The trick is to go SLOW. It only takes 5 minutes, so take your time.
The basic process goes like this. Heat a pan over medium heat, add the fat until it is hot, add the flour, and stir. Don't stop stirring for more than a few seconds or it will start to burn. You want the mixture to be bubbling without going crazy and burning.
You will be able to tell when it is done by the color. For most things, you want it to be a tan color. The longer you cook, the darker it gets, but the color of khaki pants is about right for us.
What you do next depends on what you are making, but you will be amazed how often this is used in cooking basic delicious things. If we were to add some beef broth, we would end up with a brown gravy for roast beef, or the base for beef stroganoff or sweedish meatballs. Add milk and sausage and you have biscuits and gravy. Milk and cheese and you have mac and cheese. Chicken or turkey stock and you have chicken or turkey gravy. Add more stock and you have a stew. A little more stock, you have soup. Imagine that, 5 minutes of work and you have a dozen dinners.
Anyhow, back to the process. Once your roux is a nice tan color, we add our liquid. If you are lazy or ham fisted, this is where you will wreck it. If you go slow, it will work out every time. Let's say we have two cups of liquid to add. If we just dumped it all in at once, the roux would turn to globs of glue and we would ruin everything. The trick is to add the liquid slowly, stirring with a whisk the entire time. Don't stop stirring!
Before we go on, I want to warn you. This next step happens fast. You can't take time to measure things out. Don't worry though, it doesn't require any expertise. Hannah is 11 years old now, has made a roux a thousand times, and has never screwed up once. All we are going to do is add a splash of liquid every few seconds and never, ever, ever stop stirring.
At first, add a splash of liquid, maybe a few tablespoons. It will quickly turn to paste while you stir. Once the liquid is soaked up, add another splash. Stir until the liquid and the roux blend thoroughly. As you continue to add liquid and stir, it will turn into a smooth paste. Don't add liquid until the paste is smooth. Also, don't add more liquid until the roux is bubbling again. You don't want the pan to cool down. When it becomes a paste, you can start to add more liquid each time. Stir until you can't tell the difference between the roux and the liquid. When it looks more like liquid than roux, dump the rest of the liquid in and stir for a few seconds.
Notes: if your roux seems lumpy, keep stirring until smooth before you add more liquid. Also, the first few times you make a roux, it might help to heat up your liquid first, as this will makes lumps less likely.
